Far Too Late
by Little.Miss.Xanda
Summary: They had hoped that a war would have been enough to make them aware of the stagnant state they had let themselves fall into. Quickly, it became clear that it hadn't. Change isn't something that they are willing to face until there comes a day where they are left with no choice.


**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by J.K. Rowling. No money is being made.

 **Written for the Quidditch League – Season 5 Fanfiction Competition – Round 7**

 **Round 7 - Muggle Me This**

Despite wizarding folk being the only ones privy to magic, Muggles have created their own kind of magic through the advancement of technology. Although wizardkind still regards Muggles with contempt, there are many that are slowly but surely converting to the ways of Arthur Weasley and his love for anything Muggle. In an attempt to take it another step further, Arthur has agreed to cooperate with us to help you witches and wizards better understand Muggle technology by giving you various scenarios to consider. Hopefully, by the end of it, you'll all be proud Muggle Lovers like Mr. Weasley! (Don't let him convince you that Fellytone is a better name for Telephones, though!)

 **CAPTAIN** : Write about the conflict within wizarding society, between those who want to study Muggle technology in order to understand it better and those who think it's a bunch of garbage.

 **Captain of the Wimbourne Wasps**

* * *

 **Far Too Late**

"I don't understand why you keep doing this," Ron muttered as he watched Hermione scribble away on some parchment.

"Because I don't want our children to fight in a war," she replied, not even looking up from what she was doing.

"And you think that forcing wizards and witches to learn about Muggle things will prevent that?" Ron crossed his arms in front of his chest.

Hermione laid down her quill, finally looking up from the papers she had been working on.

"Harry." She glanced to the seats near the fireplace, only to see the raven-haired wizard shaking his head.

"If there is anything I learned in all these years, is not to come between you. I like living, thank you."

Hermione huffed, then her attention went back to Ron.

"Yes, I think it will."

"Why?" Ron asked, exasperation dripping from that single word.

Hermione sighed, leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes.

"Prejudice." She opened her eyes, and Ron had to look away. He hated the defeated look in her eyes. "Grindelwald, Voldemort, all those that came before them, all those wars, that destruction and death, it was all due to prejudice." She leaned forward, a fierce gleam in her eyes. "It's hardly a wizard thing. The Muggle world is rife with prejudice. I know you don't follow the Muggle news, but, Ron, the atrocities Muggles commit due to prejudice, are... I don't have any words to describe it. What do you think they would do if they ever found out we exist?"

"Hermione," Ron whispered, "your parents are Muggles."

"So are Harry's relatives," she replied, glancing at their silent friend. "I think there are far more Dursleys in the world than Grangers."

Ron finally stepped into the room, taking a seat in front of Hermione's desk.

"How will this help?" he asked.

"It'll allow us to blend in better," Harry replied, standing from his seat by the fire and crossing the room to join them by the desk. "If we can fit in with them, then we'll have a better chance of going by unnoticed."

"You think it'll work?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded. "It won't keep us hidden forever, I'm sure about that. But at least it'll give us more time."

Ron sighed, flopping back on his seat. "Fine. How can I help?"

Hermione's answering grin was almost blinding, and just for that Ron considered it well worth it.

* * *

Hermione stomped her way out of the Wizengamot chambers, her thunderous expression clearing any witch and wizard from crossing her path.

"Those pompous, prejudiced, windbags!" she snarled as soon as she's inside Harry's office.

Harry sighed, giving a quick flick of his wand to have his office silenced and soundproofed.

"They rejected it again?"

Hermione huffed, nodding her head. She took a seat at his desk, glaring murder at the innocent paperwork littering Harry's desk.

"They said that they wouldn't allow a Muggle-born to _Muggleize_ their society, no matter how highly I may be viewed for my contributions to end the inconveniences caused by the previous Dark Lord. Inconvenience. They called the war an _inconvenience_." Hermione shook her head, her shoulders slumping. "Have they learned nothing?"

Harry sighed, summoning two glasses and pouring them a shot of firewhiskey.

"You know they haven't," he muttered, pushing a glass towards Hermione and taking a swallow from the other one. "These old Purebloods... they'll pretend that nothing happened just to keep a little bit of power, and they have a lot of power. Change to them is akin to losing power. Why do you think Kingsley left the Ministry? He was tired of fighting a losing battle."

"But I'm trying to help them! To help us!"

Harry smiled at her; it was a bitter thing, sharp and broken. "I know that, you know that, and I'm fairly sure they know that, too. They just don't care."

Hermione took her glass and drank the offered firewhiskey in one go. She slammed the glass on the desk, a glare firmly etched on her face. "I won't give up!"

Harry's smile turned fond. "I know."

* * *

"Mr. Potter!"

Harry ignored Ron's teasing grin and turned to look at the young man running towards them.

Even after all these years, there were still people coming up to him to thank him for what he had done against Voldemort, especially young Muggle-borns. Harry wasn't any fonder of it now than he had been then; however, he had learned to deal with it a lot better.

"Yes?" he asked, thanking Merlin that the Alley was almost empty at this time of day.

The young man stopped in front of them, panting hard. The man took several deep breaths, trying to get his breathing under control, then straightened up, looking Harry right in the eyes.

Harry was surprised, most just stuttered out some incoherent sentences, refusing to make eye contact.

"Please, Mr. Potter, I need to speak with you."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and Ron took a step closer to them, standing straighter.

"Please. It's really important."

"All right." Harry pointed towards a small café a little down the Alley. "Will that work?"

The young man nodded eagerly and started making his way there, looking back every so often to make sure that Harry was following.

Harry and Ron shared a look, then followed.

They took a seat at a booth, and Ron cast privacy charms all around them. Harry raised an eyebrow at the young man, who was shifting in his seat.

"I'm sorry to have approached you in such a way. I went to the Auror's office to speak with you, but I was told I needed an appointment. Then I tried speaking with any Auror on duty, but the one I was able to talk to laughed me out of the office and told me to stop believing in conspiracy theories. I swear, it isn't anything like that!"

Harry raised a hand, immediately stopping the rush of words coming from the man, only half of which made sense to Harry at this point.

"If we could start with your name, that would be nice. Then you can tell me what this is all about."

The young man blushed. "Sorry," he mumbled. "My name's Jake Carlton. I'm Muggle-born. I continued my studies in the Muggle world when I finished at Hogwarts, and I ended up going to work for a Muggle company. You know Google?" Harry and Ron nodded, and Carlton smiled. "I work there."

"All right, that's fine and all. But why did you want to speak with Harry?"

"I... I found something," Carlton whispered. Slowly, he took an envelope from his jacket, sliding it over to Harry.

Curious, Harry picked it up and opened it. His eyes widened at what he saw. He stared at it for a couple of moments, before looking back up at Carlton.

Carlton nodded. "There were hundreds of them. From all over the world."

"Merlin," Ron breathed next to him, eyes locked on the unmoving pictures of Hogwarts and Hogsmead. "They know."

Carlton shrugged. "I don't know if they know exactly what they're looking at. But if they don't know now, they'll know soon."

"We have to bring this up with the Wizengamot," Ron whispered, eyes still on the pictures.

"I know." Harry sighed. "Call Hermione." Harry got up to leave, then stopped and looked back at Carlton. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention."

Carlton got up as well, shaking his head. "I'm still a wizard, this is still my world, even if I live in the Muggle world. I... I know what Muggles are capable of."

Harry nodded grimly, while Ron's expression darkened.

"So do we," Ron replied.

"We'll floo you if you need to say anything in front of the Wizengamot," Harry added.

"All right."

Harry and Ron left the café quickly, an envelope with pictures of several magical locations clutched in Ron's hands.

* * *

"Order! Order! Settle down or I will be forced to call the Aurors!"

Slowly, silence settled over the Wizengamot chambers.

The Mugwump looked around the room before his gaze went back towards Hermione. "Now, Mrs. Weasley, could you repeat what you said?"

"I said, that we need to have Muggle-born witches and wizards join these companies and see what else they can find and that we need, urgently, to add a mandatory Muggle education class to Hogwarts, as well as provide those classes to wizards and witches that have already left Hogwarts. As you can see by the evidence provided by Head Auror Potter and Auror Weasley, we can no longer remain ignorant of the threat Muggles represent."

"Come now," a Wizengamot member interrupted, "there is no threat. We just obliviate them and destroy those pictures. We have done so for centuries. It has always worked."

"It might have worked in the past, but it won't anymore!" Hermione jumped to her feet. "Don't you understand? These aren't some pictures taken with a simple camera. These are pictures taking from a satellite in orbit of Earth! It's hundreds of miles in the sky, so far away that our spells don't reach it. We can't just erase it! We can't destroy it! We have no way of fighting it! We must assimilate! We have to hide in the open, pretend to be one of them, so they don't suspect!"

"Again with that nonsense," another member said. "We will not lower ourselves to the level of Muggles!"

"I'm not asking you to! I'm asking you to learn about them! To know how to pretend to be a Muggle so that we can remain safe and hidden!"

The Mugwump banged his gravel, silencing the outburst that was sure to follow. "Mrs. Weasley, while we appreciate your concerns, the Wizengamot believes that they are unfounded. We will deploy a team of _Obliviators_ to deal with this situation. If it assuages your fears, we will forward their report to you, so you may see that there is no cause for concern. As such, I consider this matter adjourned."

Hermione's legs gave up under her, and she slumped on her seat. She lowered her head, covering her eyes with a hand. She only glanced up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, to see Harry and Ron standing behind her.

"You did everything you could," Ron said, squeezing her shoulder.

"Clearly, it wasn't enough," she replied, leaning against him.

"They'll realize the truth," Harry said.

Hermione's smile was bitter. "It'll be far too late by then."

* * *

The remote control fell off Hermione's listless fingers. She, Ron, Harry, and several others could do nothing but stare in horror at the screen.

" _It has come to my attention, that there are people in our country, in our world, that would fool us into believing they are like us. That is a lie! These people... are they even people? They look like us, they talk like us, but they aren't like us. They are what's wrong in the world! They have the power to help but they don't! They could protect us from terrorists, but they chose not to. They are the real terrorists! I even know that one of them was the reason Hitler existed! These people aren't like you and me. They are witches, wizards! Yes! They exist! They have always existed, hidden in the shadows! But no more, I say! We will show them that we will not tolerate this kind of behavior. We will get our country, our world, back from them! And if they think they can threaten us, I will reply with fire and fury like the world has never seen before!_ "

Too late. It was far too late, now.


End file.
